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Evrensel daily's Managing Editor Çağrı Sarı has been sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison. The court deferred Sarı's prison sentence and ruled that she be on probation for one year.
The final hearing of the trial was held before Bakırköy 2nd Penal Court of First Instance. The court decided that the expression "The President taking to streets holding the Quran in his hand, did not even hesitate to make his family an election instrument. He was not able to save the Government after the June 7 Elections" and the expression "With the coup of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the capital on July 15, 97,000 people were sacked", that were published in the newspaper, constituted a crime.
A defamation lawsuit was brought against the above mentioned expressions in a letter entitled "Let's say 'No' to live as brothers and sisters, in peace and freedom" that published on the June 30, 2017 issue of Evrensel daily.
Sentencing Sarı to 11 months and 20 days in prison, the court deferred her prison sentence and impose a probation for one year on the grounds that she had not been convicted for willful crime before and for good time conduct during the trial.
RSF: Far from democratic order
Karara Sınır Tanımayan Gazeteciler de tepki gösterdi. Reporters without Borders RSF has also denounced the court's decision.
In a message posted on its Twitter account, the organization said that the Sarı being convicted was far from a democratic order and contemporary law. (EA/DG)
